Activity Summary
Monday 23rd January - Day 144
Road trip round the Catlins - day 1
Nugget point
Sea Lion colony (fail)
Purakaunui Falls
Matai Falls
The Lost Gypsy Gallery
Tuesday 24th January - Day 145
Road trip round the Catlins - day 2
Cathedral caves (fail)
McLean Falls
Petrified Forest Curio Bay
Slope Point - Southernmost point of south island
Wednesday 25th January - Day 146
Drive to Invercargill
Walk around Invercargill
Lunch at The Batch Cafe
Queens Park
Bluff Point
Estuary boardwalk
Wonderful hosts in Jude & Grant
Thursday 26th January - Day 147
Continued rest at Jude & Grants
Summary
The Catlins
It was a tough act to follow the Southern Alps and while it was beautiful and unique in its own way, we have much of the green farmland type landscape in the UK. So we weren’t completely taken aback by much of what we did here, which is in part our fault for not bringing a whole lot of energy to what we were doing.
The waterfalls however were pretty good, McLean falls in particular. Probably didn’t need 2 nights here but rather would have been better to make it a 2 day 1 night road trip.
Accommodation
Owaka / The Catlins - Thomas’s Catlins lodge & holiday park
Number of nights - 2
Price per night per person - £10
It was very nice to get a campsite with a standard grass pitch that was damp which Luke could get the pegs in like butter. But that was about the extent of the positives of this place.
Basically all the facilities outside of normal working hours were permanently occupied by a large group of foreign to NZ men who were clearly working nearby. And they took up all the space while seeming to break everything in their path. The TV room became a nap pad so that was a no go. The kitchen was pure chaos as every hob and space was taken by everyone else staying there and the destruction of this space was savage. They had managed to burn through cooking stove tops, smash up the freezers and the fridges were covered in thawing raw meat.
It was a grim affair, and only Luke went into the kitchen to do anything. The owners of the place were absolutely pulling their hair out with the ridiculous amount of damage & lack of respect. We were very happy to leave.
Diary
On checking out of Dunedin we weren’t too stressed by the car situation, which usually causes problems in terms of limited time parking, as we only needed to pay for an hour in the morning once we moved it 50m down the road. From there we could load up the car in 5 minutes and be on our merry way. It all worked out surprisingly well.
The plan for the next few days was a road trip through the Catlins, a unique landscape of Southland NZ which had a lot of green farm space and greener forested areas while straddling the coast. There isn’t a big wow factor attraction here but there would be lots of little stops along the way through.
The first stop we made was to Nugget Point, a short walk from the car park along a coastal path to a lighthouse and viewpoint. Quite nice really but a quick stop.
By this point, as we were quite close to the campsite we decided to try to go to a sea lion colony that we had read about on our standard website for all things NZ, NZ pocket guide. What we didn’t realise was that the path there would be solidly shit uneven gravel and Chopper could not handle this. So after dragging Chopper's low hanging testicles across the gravel road, we winced in pain and turned around. Turns out his tyres were properly low and we likely should have sorted this far earlier than we did when we got to Te Anau. Adulting not done well on our part.
With this failure we then also sacked off Jack’s blowhole because it looked remote, potentially gravelly and we didn’t have the heart for it. If it’s amazing - we missed out but we doubt it.
We rocked up to the campsite, got pitched up very easily on the beautiful damp and fresh green grass (yes Luke has taken to obsessing over the state of grass at this point) and then headed straight back out again post unloading Chops.
Next up was the Purakaunui Falls, again a very short walk away from the car park so nice and easy. It hadn’t been raining much at all lately, which is great for our campsite comfort but not so great for the thrashing waterfall effect. We could see the potential in this one however.
Waterfall number 2 on the list was Matai Falls which had the longer of the walks there and probably the most disappointing features. The two points to the waterfall didn’t wow us but there was a group of volunteers collecting data on the animals & plant life which was far more interesting to watch and chat briefly about.
It wasn’t particularly late but we were pretty drained so on the suggestion of Rachel in Dunedin we stopped by The Lost Gypsy Gallery on the way back to the campsite. This was actually pretty hilarious. It had such an odd assortment of creations that required someone to twist, turn or pull and watch as it did some completely random shit or pulled a joke. A few favourites were the classic buzzer at the gate that squirts water at people, the game for left handed people (Nicola), the useless box & Nicola’s immense musical talent on the random piano machine. The free bit was so good we paid the small entrance fee into the larger area for the shits & gigs and didn’t regret it (it was only £4 each).
Once back at the campsite we were welcomed to the daily ritual carnage that ensues from the long term stay guests there. The kitchen was completely full, all the hobs that they hadn’t broken were going and it was all men. Not a very comfortable space for Nicola so Luke did all the cooking which was pretty painful - a dude was using two of the sinks to defrost and then gut fish he had caught.
Fortunately the paella he made that night would carry to the next as a microwave meal so wouldn’t need to go through the ordeal again.
We kept ourselves to ourselves in the tent for the evening & again the next.
The mornings were a much calmer affair as the long stay guests had clearly all gone off to work by the time we wanted to use the kitchen briefly for our breakfast items. Every morning we would rise to find the owner scrubbing away at a state of a kitchen with pans containing all sorts of detritus not cleaned. The aggressive written sign on the door about the mess & stolen items clearly wasn’t working and we felt pretty bad for them. Luke got to talking to the owners as he was curious what was being done and it didn’t seem like they were being harsh enough at all.
As we had had a very slow start we had actually missed the window at low tide to get down to see the Cathedral caves. We weren’t especially bothered by this when we found out it would have cost $10 so decided to scrap this from the road trip itinerary.
We were a fair amount east of the Catlins so it was quite a drive to the west side activities. May have been a bit of poor planning on our part but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
The first stop of the day was the McLean Falls and was actually pretty cool. There was a nice walk through the forest to get there and finally showcased some of the Catlins Forest Park which was far more exciting than barren farmland and a distant coastline.
From there it was quite a drive to get to the Petrified Forest Curio Bay but this was probably our favourite part of the Catlins. There was a nice short walk to the rocky beach front where an ancient forest 170 millions years ago had been destroyed by volcanic debri to then be preserved by silica minerals & turned into rock-like formations. Looking out over the rocks and seeing a load of fossilised trees is pretty unique. We had a short walk around the bay, nearly saw one guy get swept out to sea by getting too close to the crashing waves and went penguin hunting only to find a dead blue.
We had some lunch on the rocks where naturally we attracted some uninvited guests. We obviously had the usual smaller and very well behaved NZ seagull but also had a much larger type join us that we hadn’t seen before, quite likely a sea traversing bad boy. He was a bit more lairy which required quite a lot of watching and Nicola shouting ‘no’ every so now and again to assert her dominance. Those two didn’t move for 15 minutes.
The last thing for the day we did was visit Slope Point, the Southernmost point of the south island, as it was pretty to the forest and would not be heading back that way the day after. Nothing special really but had a picture with a sign.
The evening was leftovers & a tent movie.
Again it was all quiet on the western front (the hostel) in the morning so we were able to pack up and move out pretty quickly. Don’t see the place getting better until they sort their guest problem.
Luke had intended to stop over in Fortrose on the way to Invercargill but it really didn’t look like much and there wasn’t a whole lot else along to the way to see so it was a pretty direct drive to Invercargill where we would be so graciously hosted by Jude & Grant, Rachel's parents. With that in mind we wanted to see everything Invers had to offer that day.
On another note, we had intended at one point to go to Stewart Island but from our research it would have cost £100 each to get the ferry there and back for about 4/5 hours on the island. To enjoy what the island has to offer we would then need to spend more money on experiences and therefore stay overnight at extra cost. So while some say it is epic (the petrol lady in Oamaru was its biggest fan and thought Luke was a madman) we couldn’t justify the cost for a lot of nature we have already seen and the difficulty to walk and get around the island. We don’t regret it.
Once parked up in Invers we decided to grab some lunch at The Batch Cafe (would recommend). As Luke had been a bit of a champion doing all the driving for the last 3 days as Nicola could not shake her exhaustion while we were here, she decided to treat him to a slap up lunch. Who says romance isn’t dead eh?
Nicola’s seafood chowder was decent and Luke scoffed his face with a wicked panini and a Southland cheese roll he wanted to try. Soz - Brits do cheese toasties so much better.
Nicola was starting to get cold while in the tent of late so decided to try and get something to top that warmth that she so quickly loses. A charity shop nearby offered blanky mark 2, quite a step up from the dog blanket she had initially purchased on day 1. It still didn’t really cure the problem but every little helps.
We had a few stops around Invers such as the Queens Park, Bluff point and then finished up at the estuary boardwalk. The estuary walk was probably one step too far for us that day.
We arrived at Jude & Grants in the late afternoon and were greeted by Jude. Shortly afterwards Sairus, a foster kid who needed a short term place to stay, arrived as well so the evening was largely spent us, Jude & Sairus having a chat and most notably bringing out the latest Bopit game until Grant was done with a local evening golf event that Luke politely declined to participate in. He is not a good golfer.
We were absolutely pampered with an amazing beef thai curry and a wicked cleanskin bottle of wine (this concept was new to him - basically a wine merchant gives a bottle of wine to a customer that has no information about what it is or where it's from). Luke had 3 portions and multiple glasses of wine and was at pure peace.
By the time it was 10pm Luke was basically asleep and we were given a wonderful new super king size bed that we both just absolutely passed out into.
We woke up the next morning feeling alive and fresh again for the first time in what felt like ages.
To make the whole experience with Jude & Grant even better, they made us poached eggs & toast using eggs from their hens in the garden. So fresh and just so nice of them.
We left pretty late in the afternoon as we were having such a nice time. Jude & Grant had travelled a lot of the world so it was very interesting to hear their stories and were so kind to let us stay, especially since they had only moved into this home a month prior. They were unbelievable hosts and as they said, they have been in our position before as weary travellers and are repaying the kindness shown to them by others. We hope to do the same in the future!
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